Making some changes to the Code Club Google groups

[Sarah Sheerman-Chase]

Hi everyone,

It's the beginning of a new year so we're doing a bit of (digital) spring cleaning at Code Club. We've noticed that there are lots of similar conversations happening in different regional forums, which means that we are missing out on the opportunity to share ideas and thoughts about Code Club as a whole.

So, we are planning to make some changes to these groups. The separate regional groups will be deleted and replaced by one group for the whole UK so we can call chat together :) And don't worry, there will still be a thread for questions specific to your area so you can connect with other people running clubs locally.

We'll be making these changes in around 2 weeks time, so you have a chance to finish any ongoing conversations.

Any questions? You can drop us a line at he...@codeclub.org.uk anytime.

Sarah

Sarah Sheerman-Chase

Participation Manager

[Zarino Zappia]

Are you going to migrate all the subscribers over automatically? Or do we all have to go sign up to the new group?

Zarino Zappia

Liverpool Code Club

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[Steven Flower]

Hi

This is probably a good idea for thematic discussions, but we might need to be wary about email threads that - for example - are about organising local meetups (something the NW group is often about).  Or - volunteers / clubs asking for help locally.  The national mailing list would not be the place to do this, yet our local channel would be closed down.  It's vital imho that local volunteers have a means to engage others nearby - I'd be wary of not providing a means to do this

Thanks

Steven  

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[Zarino Zappia]

I’m on a global Google Groups list for another organisation I’m part of (the Awesome Foundation) and every now and then there’ll be a thread about a chapter somewhere on the other side of the world. 

You’d think this would be annoying, but I actually find it quite valuable to see activity elsewhere in the organisation. So, the Stockholm chapter was talking about the Prince of Sweden coming to visit them – not really relevant to me, but nice to see! Another trustee was asking whether anyone knew anyone in Oakland or Berkeley (California, USA) to start a new chapter – not really relevant to me, but it’s awesome to know there might be a new chapter opening up.

It’s easy enough to just Archive the emails as they come in, but I personally like to see the activity.

Just my 2¢.

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[Steven Flower]

I'd agree - I too have been on global groups for local meetups (eg NetSquared), and found them useful and interesting.  But - what I see as being "deleted" here is a local forum that can be useful for people to organise.  Taking that away, "might" mean less discussion of where best for Cumbria or Manchester or Liverpool volunteers to meetup, for example - as people might be reluctant to post something so focussed.  Overwhelmingly, I disagree with community forums being shut down without some community consensus and engagement.

The national group sounds great - but I dont see a compelling reason to close down other groups with such haste

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[Zarino Zappia]

I guess they want to close the regional groups because, if they’re left open for discussion about “local” stuff, people will inevitably post the wrong type of message to both groups, or will duplicate a message across both groups, because they assume the subscriber lists are different.

*shrugs*

Feels like a decision for Liz (Smart) and the other regional coordinators to make, since the regional groups are about stimulating a local community of volunteers and, as you say, it’s not clear how well one national group will accomplish that.

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[Geoff Riley]

Hi Sarah,

Personally I strongly disagree with this move.

I have experienced local groups being combined into countrywide groups in the Open University - it completely killed all local discussions and created a proliferated of unmonitored FarceBroke groups.

Many people are generally okay airing their washing on the doorstep, but are not happy airing it on the Six O'clock News before the nation each day.

I know that I would not want to come to a national conference saying "I've got a problem handling a situation at one of my clubs." — it would feel far too much of an imposition on too many people.

Please, Sarah, feed us with some of your rationale behind doing this rather than just presenting us with a fait accompli.

Kind regards,
Geoff

[Liz Smart]

Hi all,

We've been thinking about what to do with the Google Groups. So many of the regional groups are unused or have questions which are more of a national theme. However, it's often not the case on the North West group where we like to have a place to chat about things in a bit more depth, often between people who know each other really well (so laundry is fine!). We don't want to lose that but we also don't want to have lots of rarely used regional google groups, so this should be a good solution...

The CCUK group will be used to discuss anything where the question/answers will be beneficial to others outside the North West.
There will be a North West area on the CCUK group to discuss anything specific to the NW that people are comfortable discussing with everyone.
The existing North West group will remain as a communication tool but will not be accessible via the Code Club website, it will be a place we can continue to chat between meetups.

I see this working really well and hope you do too. I'll keep an eye on both boards but it would be great if everyone did the same as there's lots of people here with ideas and experience that would benefit others UK wide.

Cheers, Liz

[John Arnold]

Sounds to me like the right solution Liz. Thank you Code Club for listening to and incorporating the views of the people who chipped in.

John

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[Geoff Riley]

Thanks Liz,

That does sound like a great solution indeed. ...and I won't have to find somewhere to stash all this laundry. :)

All the best,
Geoff

[Steven Flower]

Hi All

Just an extra thought - but is Google Groups the answer?

As far as I can understand, there will just be an additional Google Group (a mailing list) setup.  That will mean more emails for us all - the settings we can access in Google Groups don't provide too many options.  I cant for example, mute some topics, and/or only receive others (I think)

Maybe something like http://www.discourse.org/ |  http://try.discourse.org/ might be an option ?  

Sorry - this isnt a solution, and appreciate lots of people still access and use good old email lists 

Thanks

Steven

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